1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to audio mixers and more particularly to a pre-amplifier mixing stereo audio signals from any conventional source such as phonograph records, magnetic tapes and microphones.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well-known to use an audio mixer to combine stereo audio signals, however in the past stereo audio mixers have not been designed with the user/operator in mind. In the present invention, great care has been taken to include all of the features which leading disc jockeys require, permitting greater flexibility to mix audio signals from more than two sources simultaneously, and to change the character of the sound at will.
A typical audio mixer includes the Bozak Model CMA-10-2DL stereo mixer/pre-amplifier. However the Bozak Mixer does not provide the features of the present invention. The Bozak Model shows 2 microphone inputs; however said inputs do not have separate equalization in that the tone controls affect all inputs simultaneously, since the control is done after mixing all input signals. The present invention includes separate tone controls before mixing of the mike inputs, phono inputs and high level inputs.
The Bozak includes a cueing monitor for previewing the inputs to the system, however, said cueing monitor being on a rotory cueing switch is limited to previewing only one input at a time. The present invention includes a separate cue switch for each stereo input; the operator can monitor one or all inputs simultaneously, as required. This phenomenon is caused by the disc jockey's creative desires to preview and synchronize more than one input simultaneously.
Previously in mixers, if there was a failure in the input of one channel, then half the output speakers of the sound system would not play. The present invention eliminates this problem by use of a means to combine both inputs (one of which is dead) to both output channels providing output in all speakers, until the input problem is remedied.
Other patents describing the closest subject matter provide for a number of more or less complicated features that fail to solve the problem in an efficient and economical way. None of these patents suggest the novel features of the present invention.